Belisario Betancur

Belisario Betancur (4 February 1923-) was President of Colombia from 7 August 1982 to 7 August 1986, succeeding Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala and preceding Virgilio Barco Vargas. He was a member of the Colombian Conservative Party.

Biography
Belisario Betancur was born in Amaga, Antioquia, Colombia on 4 February 1923, the son of a textile worker. He initially trained to be a priest, but he was expelled from his seminary for disciplinary issues. He instead enrolled at the Universidad Pontifica Bolivariana in Medellin, and he obtained a law and economics degree in 1955. From 1945 to 1947, he served in the Antioquia Assembly as a Colombian Conservative Party member, and he served in the National Constituent Assembly from 1953 to 1957. In 1963, he served as Minister of Labor, and he would also serve as ambassador to Spain from 1975 to 1977. In 1978, he was defeated by Colombian Liberal Party presidential candidate Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala, but he won the 1982 presidential election. Betancur began a literacy campaign and endorsed tax amnesty, and he also pursued democratic reforms and initiated peace talks with the communist guerrillas. He left office in 1986.